Far Eastern Bible College (abbreviation: FEBC; ; ;

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

: தூர கிழக்கு வேதாகம கல்லூரி) is a

reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...

, and

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

Bible-Presbyterian theological institution located at Gilstead Road, under the Novena Planning Area, within the Central Region of Singapore. Founded in 1962 by

Timothy Tow Timothy Tow Siang Hui (28 December 1920 – 20 April 2009) was a Singaporean pastor who founded the Bible-Presbyterian Church. He was also founding principal of the Far Eastern Bible College. Personal life Tow was educated at the Anglo-Chinese ...

, FEBC is the fourth oldest Bible college in the country. The current principal is Jeffrey Khoo. The college motto is ''"Holding forth the Word of Life"'' (Phil 2:16) and ''"Holding fast the Faithful Word"'' (Titus 1:9).

History

Far Eastern Bible College was established on 17 September 1962 as an autonomous institution independent of ecclesiastical control. It shares premises with the Life Bible-Presbyterian Church (LBPC), but the two organisations had a falling out over a doctrinal issue. In 2008, the church sued the college over what it considered to be "deviant Bible teachings", and sought to force FEBC to leave the Gilstead Road premises. The FEBC faculty had been promoting a doctrine known as "

Verbal Plenary Preservation In Protestant theology, verbal plenary preservation (VPP) is a doctrine concerning the nature of the Bible. While verbal plenary inspiration ("VPI") applies only to the original autographs of the Bible manuscript, VPP views that, "the whole of Scr ...

", which states that the text of Scripture has been perfectly preserved. However the church failed as the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, the apex court in the Singapore legal system, held on 26 April 2011 that (i) “the VPP doctrine is actually closely related to the VPI doctrine which both parties .e., FEBC and LBPC adhere to,” (rejecting LBPC's contention in 9of the Court of Appeal Judgement that it is “an entirely different creature from the VPI doctrine");” (ii) “the College, in adopting the VPP doctrine, has not deviated from the fundamental principles which guide and inform the work of the College right from its inception, and as expressed in the

Westminster Confession The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...

”; (iii) “ is not inconsistent for a Christian who believes fully in the principles contained within the

(and the VPI erbal Plenary Inspirationdoctrine) to also subscribe to the VPP doctrine”; and (iv) “ the absence of anything in the

that deals with the status of the apographs, we

he Court He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

hesitate to find that the VPP doctrine is a deviation from the principles contained within the

Doctrine

Far Eastern Bible College subscribes to the system of theology called "Reformed" as expressed in the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...

, and its Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1643-1648). The college rejects the

documentary hypothesis The documentary hypothesis (DH) is one of the models used by biblical scholars to explain the origins and composition of the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). A vers ...

source criticism Source criticism (or information evaluation) is the process of evaluating an information source, i.e.: a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation, or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given p ...

Form criticism Form criticism as a method of biblical criticism classifies units of scripture by literary pattern and then attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission."form criticism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica ...

, and

redaction criticism Redaction criticism, also called ''Redaktionsgeschichte'', ''Kompositionsgeschichte'' or ''Redaktionstheologie'', is a critical method for the study of biblical texts. Redaction criticism regards the author of the text as editor (redactor) of the ...

Culture

College anthem

The "FEBC Anthem" was written by the founding principal to music composed by M. D. Buell and arranged by Dave Haas. The early years of hardships and difficulties moved the founding principal to write the lyrics while on a train journey from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in 1966.

Dean Burgon Oath

Since 1979, the

Dean Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 18134 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defence of the historicity and Mosaic authorship of Gen ...

Oath has been taken by members of the Board of Directors and Faculty at every annual convocation to publicly affirm their allegiance to the Bible:

I swear in the name of the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—that the Bible is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth upon the throne. Every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every word of it, every syllable of it, every letter of it, is the direct utterance of the Most High. The Bible is none other than the Word of God, not some part of it more, some part of it less, but all alike the utterance of Him that sitteth upon the throne, faultless, unerring, supreme. So help me God. Amen.

Academic programmes

Non-degree programmes

*Certificate of Religious Knowledge (CertRK) *Certificate of Biblical Studies (CertBS) *Diploma of Theology (DipTh)

Degree programmes

*Bachelor of Religious Education (BRE) *Bachelor of Theology (Th.B.) *Master of Religious Education (MRE) *Master of Divinity (M.Div.) *Master of Theology (Th.M.) *Doctor of Theology (Th.D.)

In-ministry programmes

*Master of Ministry (M.Min.) *Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Publications

The college publishes a theological journal, ''The Burning Bush'', a biannual

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

. It is distributed for free to students and alumni of the college and members of the Bible-Presbyterian churches. The

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

is Jeffrey Khoo. The journal was established in 1971 as a newsletter of the college. In 1995 it was replaced with the present journal format to allow for longer articles such as term papers, graduate theses, and faculty write-ups. The papers published reflect the reformed, premillennial, and separatist stance of the college.

Principals

(17 September 1962 - 20 April 2009) * Jeffrey Khoo (1 May 2009 – present)

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1962 Seminaries and theological colleges in Singapore Reformed church seminaries and theological colleges King James Only movement 1962 establishments in Singapore